How many mistakes per gig do you make?

[RandomBass]

[quote name='paul torch' timestamp='1354010795' post='1880665']
just the one... turning up.

[/quote]
I turned up halfway through a gig once. I was quickly told to turn down again.

[bigjohn]

[quote name='BigRedX' timestamp='1354020998' post='1880855']
At least one per song - and probably a lot more if you include things that are musically correct but not actually what I ought to have been playing. However in over 30 years of gigging I don't think I've ever messed up so badly that it's brought the song to a halt.

As others have said it doesn't matter. I've now learnt not to acknowledge mine or anyone else's mistakes. They are over as soon as you play the next right note and long forgotten by the end of the next bar.
[/quote]

Aye. That's about where I'm at. Some songs in our set I have a bassline for the whole song in my head. It's rare I get from start to finish playing each note exactly as I want. But that's life. Being a musician is about embracing that and being creative with it.

Some songs I'm just happy I know "how it goes" and it's never gonna be the same every time anyway as the songs are long and are mainly instrumental. That's a different thing but again, that's life. Embrace it and be creative. No-one notices anyway if things get a bit out of line!

I've played one really bad gig where I couldn't hear myself onstage at all. It was just mud. With no vocal either. Now that gig was littered with awful mistakes all over. What made it worse was that FOH everyone could hear everything clear as a bell.

[bigjohn]

[quote name='RandomBass' timestamp='1354116980' post='1882262']
I turned up halfway through a gig once. I was quickly told to turn down again.
[/quote]



[i]Pardon?[/i]

[rogerstodge]

If i think too much then i'll make a mistake, not sure why, half way through a song i'll think " oh dear what comes next"..or when playing my warwick in bad lighting with no neck dots, ooh my gawd

[4 Strings]

[quote name='Spoombung' timestamp='1354015054' post='1880746']
I usually f*** up on every track but nobody notices or gives a sh*t
[/quote]

Yep, my experience. I dish out raised eyebrows left right and centre to the others though.

[4 Strings]

[quote name='BigRedX' timestamp='1354048146' post='1881468']
I don't understand this starting a song in the wrong key. Surely you learn it in the right key for your singer and stick with it? Also the one time I've changed the key of a song to suit a singer it opened up a whole load of new possibilities for the guitar part which meant I ended up playing something entirely different to the part I'd originally written with no chance of getting the two confused.
[/quote]

Best Of My Love by the Emotions, great bass part, played really well on the original, lends itself to the key. But its painfully high for the singers, down a minor third and its horrible to play. Hipshot value rises.

[TimR]

[quote name='BigRedX' timestamp='1354048146' post='1881468']
I don't understand this starting a song in the wrong key. Surely you learn it in the right key for your singer and stick with it? Also the one time I've changed the key of a song to suit a singer it opened up a whole load of new possibilities for the guitar part which meant I ended up playing something entirely different to the part I'd originally written with no chance of getting the two confused.
[/quote]

If you play in different bands different keys can be a nightmare. Especially if the original is downtuned to Eb. Some bands downtune, some just play in E.

[BigRedX]

[quote name='TimR' timestamp='1354147508' post='1882885']
If you play in different bands different keys can be a nightmare. Especially if the original is downtuned to Eb. Some bands downtune, some just play in E.
[/quote]

For me the reason to play in different bands is to play different material, so I would hope that the situation above would not arise. If I was depping for a band that did a song in a different key then I am being paid not to make elementary mistakes like that.

[Mog]

I've rarely, if ever, played a gig without making a couple of mistakes. It happens to everyone. The trick is how you react to it. I normally just slide up/down to the correct note and throw in a wee fill to cover it up. It works just fine. Due the huge volume of material I've built up over the years it often gets to the stage where I play a line from muscle memory. Mistakes are bound to happen in such instances. Then again, muscle memory has gotten me through some fairly boring gigs where I was more interested in the golf on the tv.............

Re the change of key thing: I reckon thats why bassists should have at least a basic grasp of theory. It makes transposing on the fly a doddle. Having said that, for 70% of the covers I play I dont know the actual bassline so I bank on theory and the 6string to get me through and just do an approximation of the line from memory.

[Doddy]

[quote name='BigRedX' timestamp='1354193911' post='1883341']
If I was depping for a band that did a song in a different key then I am being paid not to make elementary mistakes like that.
[/quote]

Depends.....I did a dep gig for a band a couple of weeks ago-learnt the material-fine-talked through everything with
the band before the gig and was told that everything was in original key. Great. Except it wasn't. Not a problem at
all,(most were changed to make easy segues) except on the one song that started with a 4 bar bass groove.I started
in the recorded key,the rest of the band came in a semitone lower. Not a big problem-I could adjust easily-but things
happen.

[BigRedX]

[quote name='Doddy' timestamp='1354201390' post='1883504']
Depends.....I did a dep gig for a band a couple of weeks ago-learnt the material-fine-talked through everything with
the band before the gig and was told that everything was in original key. Great. Except it wasn't. Not a problem at
all,(most were changed to make easy segues) except on the one song that started with a 4 bar bass groove.I started
in the recorded key,the rest of the band came in a semitone lower. Not a big problem-I could adjust easily-but things
happen.
[/quote]

But that's not your mistake - it's the band's for giving you the wrong information.

[BigRedX]

[quote name='4 Strings' timestamp='1354142953' post='1882802']
Yep, my experience. I dish out raised eyebrows left right and centre to the others though.
[/quote]

I'm not keen on this. IME the majority of mistakes that don't result in the song coming to a halt go completely unnoticed by most of the audience. As a punter often the only confirmation that things haven't gone as planned on stage are the expressions on the musicians' faces. When I'm playing I've schooled myself to keep my reactions to others musical errors as invisible as possible. If some one has messed up really badly we might have a quick discussion about it at the next rehearsal, but never give anything away while you are playing.

[Mog]

[quote name='BigRedX' timestamp='1354202928' post='1883541']
I'm not keen on this. IME the majority of mistakes that don't result in the song coming to a halt go completely unnoticed by most of the audience. As a punter often the only confirmation that things haven't gone as planned on stage are the expressions on the musicians' faces. When I'm playing I've schooled myself to keep my reactions to others musical errors as invisible as possible. If some one has messed up really badly we might have a quick discussion about it at the next rehearsal, but never give anything away while you are playing.
[/quote]

Great post lad. No point in making otherwise unnoticed boo boos common knowledge. Not good for a bands reputation at all.

[BILL POSTERS]

[quote name='BigRedX' timestamp='1354202928' post='1883541']
I'm not keen on this. IME the majority of mistakes that don't result in the song coming to a halt go completely unnoticed by most of the audience. As a punter often the only confirmation that things haven't gone as planned on stage are the expressions on the musicians' faces. When I'm playing I've schooled myself to keep my reactions to others musical errors as invisible as possible. If some one has messed up really badly we might have a quick discussion about it at the next rehearsal, but never give anything away while you are playing.
[/quote]

Yep.

[TimR]

Luckily for me, so far every band I 've played with has done Mustang Sally in C.

[The Dark Lord]

Even luckier for me, I've never been in a band that played Mustang Sally.

[JTUK]

[quote name='TimR' timestamp='1354205926' post='1883615']
Luckily for me, so far every band I 've played with has done Mustang Sally in C.
[/quote]

Ha Ha... But it would hardly matter, there are plenty of standards where the only shout is the key on the count-in...and you'll be expected to nail it, groove and all

[51m0n]

[quote name='BigRedX' timestamp='1354202928' post='1883541']
I'm not keen on this. IME the majority of mistakes that don't result in the song coming to a halt go completely unnoticed by most of the audience. As a punter often the only confirmation that things haven't gone as planned on stage are the expressions on the musicians' faces. When I'm playing I've schooled myself to keep my reactions to others musical errors as invisible as possible. If some one has messed up really badly we might have a quick discussion about it at the next rehearsal, but never give anything away while you are playing.
[/quote]

He's not kidding chaps, I've seen him, he remains the epitome of cool rock bass god for the entire performance with a grimace of 'we are here to make your evening' plastered on his face.

Damned impressive it is too....

As to the original question, by the end of the set I've usually lost count, actually by the end of the song I may have lost count, which may be the problem come to think of it

Seriously, I learnt a long time a go that the punters - even when they are musicians themselves - don't notice anything short of a train wreck as long as you dont semaphore it at them. So why get hung up on it?

Play your best, have a fantastic time (and look like it) and keep grooving [i]no matter what[/i].

[4 Strings]

[quote name='BigRedX' timestamp='1354202928' post='1883541'] I'm not keen on this. IME the majority of mistakes that don't result in the song coming to a halt go completely unnoticed by most of the audience. As a punter often the only confirmation that things haven't gone as planned on stage are the expressions on the musicians' faces. When I'm playing I've schooled myself to keep my reactions to others musical errors as invisible as possible. If some one has messed up really badly we might have a quick discussion about it at the next rehearsal, but never give anything away while you are playing. [/quote]

I suppose the other way of looking at it is there's clearly been a clanger from someone, wouldn't want the audience thinking it went unnoticed by the band and we were that poor. We're a lighthearted lot and normally I get a smirk back from the offendee. Mistakes do get noticed (not by all, of course) and, over the years I've had (literally) one or two comments back about it, mainly joining in the fun of having noticed and feeling included.

Neither do I sign up to the 'repeating a mistake in the hope the audience think its intentional', just makes them think you can't get it right, (that's the way I would think) or worse still, think we believe the song should go like that intentionally.

Anyway, I'm the bass player, everyone's looking at the girls singing and I don't want the band to think they can get away with it - even if I do! If the audience is that involved to notice my raised eyebrow they will have definitely noticed the mistake.

[BigRedX]

[quote name='51m0n' timestamp='1354269380' post='1884217']
He's not kidding chaps, I've seen him, he remains the epitome of cool rock bass god for the entire performance with a grimace of 'we are here to make your evening' plastered on his face.
[/quote]

Thanks! That means a lot.

TBH comments like that mean that my work has been successful and are far more important to me than any praise for my actual playing.

Playing live is all about entertaining your audience. It's going to be rare that any performance is flawless and goes exactly as planned, but so long as the band doesn't give anything away at the time, I'd be surprised if anyone in the audience notices.

[The Dark Lord]

It's good to hear I'm not alone.

I guess we all make some sorta mistakes here and there - except perhaps for the really top-notch pros among us, but then again they can even be thrown by someone else's errors.

Like I said in the original post, I make a few minor mistakes here and there which are sometimes noticed by the others in the band. I guess in a three-piece (guitar/bass/drums) combo mistakes could potentially be more noticeable? Maybe.

I've never seen it as an issue, and as I said, I can forgive myself .... and can't even remember my last real clanger.

It's all about "do the audience enjoy it" ....and looking out at them ... they seem to.

Off for another 2 x 1 hour gig in a pub tonight .... and I'll probably drop a [u]real[/u] clanger now that I've said all this. But hey, what's the worst that can happen?

[JTUK]

Well, you can have a little fulff here or there..which may well just be a little string fluff, where you haven't fretted it convincingly and so it doesn't come through as much
as you'd like, and that would piss me off.
I don't much care if the audience notice it..I did, so that is it for me...
By the same token, I am looking for a spunky performance from the band, and altho I might notice a fluff from them, I would smile it off...as in, I noticed it, but don't really care too much, it's gone anyway...

If I watched other bands, I would likely notice if I was watching that player... but otherwise might not hear it.. but again, if the performace was getting there, I wouldn't really register with it..
Train-wrecks are different..and that is a bad mark allround. How seriously you take it, depends on the nature of the gig and how big a wreck...but wrong chords are a no-no, IMO.

[BigRedX]

You'd be surprised how big a wreck it has to be before anyone in the audience really notices. What might be enough to stop a song in the rehearsal room, is generally escapable from in a gig situation. When my band is rehearsing specifically for a gig, we have an understanding that nothing should prevent us from getting to the end of a song. It's all about recovering from mistakes that sorts out how good your band is at playing. Learning how to recover from mistakes (and other peoples) is IMO as important as trying not to make them in the first place.

And finally an example. In a previous band that used sequenced backing the complement the standard guitar/bass/drums/vocal line up, at the first gig with our new (and very good) drummer he decided to do something rhythmically more complex at the start of the song than what he had been playing in rehearsal. Consequently the rest of the band ended up half a bar out in relation to the sequenced instrument and the drums. We could hear that something was not right, but it took us until the breakdown in the middle to figure out what it was to get back in sync. Afterwards not a single member of the audience we spoke to had noticed anything had been wrong and that included an ex-member of the band!

[JTUK]

I'd want to avoid them... and it pisses me off otherwise.

As I said, I am not much concerned if they go unnoticed by everyone else...
Our unit is pretty good..as are the dep bands, and I just don't want to see or hear it happen from my POV.

If youn have a cetrain reputation, you probably come under more scrutiny, if only by bitchy muso's, and in a pub, we'd laugh at it...
Not on a bigger stage though..so not making them at any time is the goal..
An impossible goal, but a goal nonetheless.

But sure, if we played faultlessly, but without passion or soul, then that would be noted as well...

[51m0n]

[quote name='BigRedX' timestamp='1354278795' post='1884341']
You'd be surprised how big a wreck it has to be before anyone in the audience really notices. What might be enough to stop a song in the rehearsal room, is generally escapable from in a gig situation. When my band is rehearsing specifically for a gig, we have an understanding that nothing should prevent us from getting to the end of a song. It's all about recovering from mistakes that sorts out how good your band is at playing. Learning how to recover from mistakes (and other peoples) is IMO as important as trying not to make them in the first place.

....
[/quote]

Actually that doesn't surprise me at all.

In fact I'd go so far as to say you lot must have to rehearse as if your lives depended upon getting to the end of the song no matter what, if for no other reason than Monsieur Venom can be guaranteed to have launched himself across the bar at some point, swinging from the chandeliers whilst rubbing his barely clad crotch in the direction of anyone too shy to stare him full in the quiff.

If he hasnt knocked his theremin over at least once per set whilst tying himself into a big knot with his mic lead (the yanking on the end of which risks life and limbs of both audience and remaining band members) he would no doubt considfer it a very very pedestrian performance indeed.

Amazed me how well you held it all together to be honest....